Tono's Teahouse

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For other uses, see Teahouse.
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This article is non-canon within the canon continuity.

This article covers a subject from a Star Wars: Visions story that Lucasfilm declared is set in an alternate history within a reimagined galaxy.

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This article's title was anglicized based on canonical information; its capitalization and spelling is pure conjecture.

"I've troubled you."
―The Ronin to the teahouse shopkeep, upon seeing the damage sustained by the building[1]

Tono's Teahouse was a teahouse located along a mountain path overlooking a nearby village on the Outer Rim Territories planet Genbara. Around twenty years after the Sith rebellion, it was operated by a Sullustan shopkeep assisted by two droids. The teahouse sustained significant damage after a raid on the village by the Sith Kouru and her band of raiders.

Description

Side view of the teahouse

Side view of the teahouse

Tono's Teahouse[2] was a teahouse on Genbara, a planet in the Outer Rim Territories.[1] It was situated on a raised section of a mountain valley with a path leading to a village below. An ancient bended pine[1] and a moisture vaporator stood on both sides of the building. Decorated with vertical flags on the roof, blue and green lights, and rope curtains hanging from the door, the teahouse included a shaded veranda with a low table and a long bench, as well as short split curtains.[3] Around two decades after the Sith rebellion, the establishment was manned by a Sullustan shopkeep, who kept the floor clean-swept.[1] He also employed a GNK-series[4] power droid,[3] and the R1-series astromech droid[5] R1-G4.[4]

History

Bandit raid

"Your power droid. It's leaking. I could smell it from the road. I can fix it for you."
―The Ronin, offering his services to the shopkeep[1]

Twenty years after the Imperial unification, the former Sith known as "the Ronin" and his companion astromech droid R5-D56 found themselves wandering for two months on Genbara, until they came across a local woodcutter who pointed the way toward a farm village that the Ronin sought. In the path to the village, the Ronin smelled a power droid leak near the teahouse, where he approached the storekeeper and offered to fix his droid in exchange for some nourishment. The former Sith repaired the droid within an hour, and the Sullustan poured him a cup of tea that smelled of pine. From the teashop, the Ronin saw villagers carrying about their daily activities in the central square, as well as working the rice fields.[1]

The Ronin sips tea at the teahouse as the Sullustan shopkeep watches the village raid

The Ronin sips tea at the teahouse as the Sullustan shopkeep watches the village raid

A few moments later, the self-styled Dark Lord of the Sith Kouru led a group of Bandit Troopers aboard a Troop Transport Tank from a deserted village across the mountain into the town for a raid, stopping in front of the storehouse Mamura's in the central square.[1] After the villagers were rounded up, one bandit, while communicating with another, pointed at the teahouse over the hill.[3] The shopkeep feared for their safety, and urged his guests to take shelter inside the establishment, slinging an arm over R5-D56, worried he could skid off.[1]

Once inside the teahouse, R5 attempted to rush out the door, but was tugged by cabling attached to himself, falling over in the process. The Sullustan scolded him and pulled the droid back inside. Over at the village, the bandits, who sought goods from the villagers as a form of tax, were denied them by the village chief, who insisted the bandits had already taken enough. Moments later, bounty hunter guards began an assault on the invaders, and a firefight ensued in the center of town, with a stray bolt finding its way to one of the teahouse's support beams.[1]

Further damage and aftermath

"My droid. Do you think you can repair him? I need him fully operational by the time this pot boils."
―The Ronin, to the shopkeep[3]
The teahouse is hit with a bolt ricocheted from Kouru's lightsaber

The teahouse is hit with a bolt ricocheted from Kouru's lightsaber

Kouru, emerging from the transport, aided her troopers in taking the village. The bounty hunters fired at the Sith, who blocked the bolts with her lightsaber. The teahouse was again the target of blasterfire, this time from one of the bolts that ricocheted off of Kouru's lightsaber. The shot carved a hole through the wall of the building and damaged R5-D56. The Ronin placed a teakettle on the GNK power droid,[3] and asked the shopkeep to finish repairing R5-D56 by the time the water in the kettle boiled, to which the Sullustan complied.[1]

The Ronin left to duel Kouru, when another blaster bolt hit the teahouse, as the duo took the fight away from the town center. On a log near a river, the Ronin clashed with the Sith. After the bandit leader was informed by one of her own that the village had been taken, the Ronin activated a button on his wrist cuff, which prompted his now-repaired companion R5-D56 to launch a salvo of missiles that took down the raiders. Near a waterfall, the Ronin killed Kouru, thus eliminating the threat to the people of the village. By the end of the confrontation, a large stack of smoke was seen billowing[3] from the bombarded teahouse, prompting the Ronin to gift the shopkeep Kouru's parasol auxiliary as compensation.[1]

Behind the scenes

"A teahouse overlooks the valley, a fire tower in the middle of the village, a river deep enough to float logs on for the Bandit Leader and Ronin to fight on. "The Duel" is short, but incorporates various locations."
―Takanobu Mizuno[6]
A storyboard scene describing the Ronin as drinking alcohol at the teahouse

A storyboard scene describing the Ronin as drinking alcohol at the teahouse

The teahouse first appeared in "The Duel," a non-canon short film released as part of the first volume of the Star Wars: Visions series, produced by Kamikaze Douga and released on Disney+[3] on September 22, 2021.[7] Before the short's release, it was first pictured in the original[8] and English dub trailers for the series uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on August 17 of the same year.[9] Tono's Teahouse also appeared in the non-canon novel Ronin: A Visions Novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon[1] and published on October 12, 2021.[10]

Naming and design

The teahouse was identified as トーノ茶屋 (Tōno Chaya) on the interview page about "The Duel" at cgworld.jp in April 11, 2022,[11] with the English spelling "Tono's Teahouse" provided in an English translation published on the same website on April 25 of the same year.[2] Character designer Takashi Okazaki revealed that the teahouse shopkeep was inspired the cantina owner Gonji, played by actor Eijirō Tōno[6] in the Akira Kurosawa film[4] Yojimbo.[6] A storyboard scene described the Ronin as having an alcoholic drink at the teahouse,[2] but the novel clarified the drink was tea.[1]

A piece of concept art for the teahouse revealed that the moisture vaporators around the establishment had their weather vanes styled after the[4] Japanese handheld fans[12] known as uchiwa. Another note remarks that the portion of the teahouse roof with a vent was designed after Darth Vader helmet. Other aspects highlighted include the presence of crates in a style that often appears in Star Wars works, the GNK droid, and a droid similar to the cut R1-Q10, labeled as R1-G4.[4]

Concept art gallery

Star Wars: Visions
Storyboards Concept art Digital renderings In-progress artwork

Appearances

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Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Ronin: A Visions Novel
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Premium-Era-real The Making of Star Wars: Visions: The Duel: Part 1: A Novel Look Combining Kurosawa and Star Wars on CGWORLD (April 25, 2022) (backup link archived on August 3, 2025)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Star-Wars-Visions-series-logo-short Star Wars: Visions — "The Duel"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Premium-Era-real スター・ウォーズ：ビジョンズ『The Duel』メイキング［後篇］黒澤映画と『スター・ウォーズ』への尊敬と共に、全力で遊んだ (Japanese) on CGWORLD (April 12, 2022) (backup link archived on February 19, 2025)
  5. ↑ StarWarsKids Star Wars By the Numbers: Every Droid in Star Wars on the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel (original link is obsolete)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Art of Star Wars: Visions
  7. ↑ StarWars.com Stunning New Star Wars: Visions Trailer Debuts on StarWars.com (backup link)
  8. ↑ SWYT-Logo Star Wars: Visions | Original Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com)
  9. ↑ SWYT-Logo Star Wars: Visions | English Dub Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com)
  10. ↑ PenguinRandomHouse-Logo Star Wars Visions: Ronin on Penguin Random House's official website (backup link)
  11. ↑ Premium-Era-real スター・ウォーズ：ビジョンズ『The Duel』メイキング［前篇］黒澤映画と『スター・ウォーズ』を組み合わせ、斬新な世界観を構築 on CGWORLD (backup link archived on March 22, 2025)
  12. ↑ Premium-Era-real 団扇 on Jisho.org (backup link archived on August 14, 2025)

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